a notebook on cinema, hyperreality, and longing . . .

June 21, 2006

Summer Solstice

The longest day of the year is a tempestuous one here in st. andrews . . . a crossroads of pagan, Roman Catholic, and high Scot Protestant traditions. the sun rules the day but the strong West winds drive the tempurature down as the clouds forshadow the days to come. the honey moon (the first full moon in june when honey is harvested) is past us and the ironic joys of summer are upon us.

Midsummers Day also known as the Feast of St. John the Baptist is actually June 24 marking the dark twin on the Cardinal Cross. We now slowly decend into darkness and begin, with anticipation, the birth of the light of the world.

The importance of the Christian calender deriving meaning from the pagan is now lost . . . the protestants have succeded in erasing that memeory into shadow and turning the days into rote spiritualism.

However, in Switzerland there is an interesting key. The Lausanne Cathedral, concecrated by Gregory X in 1275 (construction began a century earlier), house the most unusual stained glass. The Rose window, original to the cathedral from the 13th century, is window into the Medieval Christian imagination. [see images from the Princeton Univ. archives] Christ at the center, images of daily life throughout the four season, the astrological zodiac surrounds those images and 'monsters' mark the edges.

During the Reformation Lausanne Cathedral was stripped by iconoclastic Protestants . . . except for this window?? Why did they leave it? What truth about the nature of existence did it continue to reveal to the Reformers?

May you be fully present to this day beyond the usual numbers, facts, and the picayune.

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Cinema Out of Joint is an ongoing reflection on films that best describe the mood, situation, and going-on in Time Out of Joint. It's a glimpse into the films I wrestle with, that have gotten into me and I can't shake ... or don't ever want to.
Cinema Out of Joint is intended to serve as an ongoing guide of landmarks as the soul wayfares through the wondrous and perilous landscape of cinema:

trace n. A visible mark, such as a footprint, made or left by the passage of a person, animal, or thing. Evidence or an indication of the former presence or existence of something; a vestige. // trac-es v. tr. To follow the course or trail of: trace a wounded deer: tracing missing persons. To locate or discover by searching or researching evidence. / v. intr. To make one's way along a trail or course. To have origins; be traceable.